472 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



because of physical disability. The 

 following spring he removed to ]\Iil- 

 ford. New Jersey, where he engaged in 

 business until the spring of 1868. when 

 he located in Williamsport. , Lycoming 

 county, Pennsylvania, where he has 

 since made his home. Here he turned 

 his attention to the lumber industry. He 

 has been interested in a number of dif- 

 ferent lumber enterprises, largely in 

 connection with the lumber trade. He 

 is the senior member of the firm of 

 Elias Deemer & Company, his partner 

 being John H. Hunt: was treasurer and 

 manager of the partnership of Strong, 

 Deemer & Company. Limited; was pres- 

 ident of the Williamsport Lumber 

 Company, of the Williamsport Land 

 and Lumber Company, and of the Will- 

 iamsport and Chesapeake Company, and 

 of numerous improvement companies; 

 and was treasurer and half owner of the 

 Williamsport Wood Company. All of 

 the latter named companies have, how- 

 ever, closed out their business. Elias 

 Deemer is now^ and has been since 1893 

 president of the Williamsport National 

 Bank, and is a stockholder and director 

 in the J. K. Risher Furniture Company 

 and in the Lycoming Calcining Com- 

 pany, and his business enterprise and 

 sound judgment have been important 

 factors in the successful control of a 

 number of important commercial and in- 

 dustrial concerns, which have contribu- 

 ted to the prosperity of the city of Will- 

 iamsport as well as to the success of 

 individual stockholders. Mr. Deemer has 

 taken an active and helpful interest in 

 public affairs. He had never aspired to 

 office, yet his fitness for leadership led 

 to his selection to the city council in 

 the spring of 1888, and his capability 

 in the discharge of his duties caused 

 his re-election in 1889. He was elected 

 a member of the Fifty-seventh Con- 

 gress in the fall of 1900, was again elect- 

 ed a member of the Fifty-eighth Con- 

 gress in the fall of 1902. and once more 

 was re-nominated for the third time^ 

 an unprecedented occurrence in the con- 

 gressional district he represents — and 

 was re-elected in the Jail of 1904. a mem- 

 ber of the Fifty-ninth Congress, receiv- 

 ing 19.807 votes to 11.959 votes for his 

 Democratic opponent, thus securing the 

 largest majority over a Democratic op- 

 ponent that was ever given a Republi- 

 can candidate in the district. So that 

 he has. since March 4. 1901. represented 

 his district in the legislative councils of 

 the nation. 



Elias Deemer was married to Henri- 

 etta Hunt, in November, 1865, and they 

 have four children: William Russell, 

 Mary Lillian. Laura Hunt and Lulu 

 May. William Russell Deemer. who is 

 practicing law in Williamsnort. married 

 Sara January Grundy, of Kentucky, and 

 have one son, William Russell. Jr.. and 

 one daughter. Mary Elizabeth. 



JOHN G. KING, vice-president of the 

 Doylestown National Bank, was born in 

 New Britain township. December 6, 1857," 

 a son of John F. and Mary (Godshalk) 

 King, both of German descent. Among the 

 early German emigrants to Pennsylvania 

 were many of the name of Koenig, long 

 since Anglicized into King, all of whom 

 seem to have settled originally in Montgom- 

 ery county, from whence they migrated into 

 several other sections as the country became 

 settled westward and northward. Among 

 these was Peter King, who with two broth- 

 ers, Nicholas and Balthasar, emigrated- from 

 Germany in the year 1752, arriving in Phila- 

 delphia on October i6th of that year in the 

 good ship "Snow Kitty," Theophilus Barnes, 

 commander. They probably remained for 

 some time, so says tradition, in the neigh- 

 borhood of Germantown, but about 1760 

 Peter King purchased a farm in Hatfield 

 township. Philadelphia, now Montgomery 

 county, and settled thereon. Here his two 

 sons, Peter and IMartin King, were reared, 

 though both eventually found homes in 

 Bucks county. 



Martin King, great-grandfather of the 

 subject of this sketch, first located in Bucks 

 county in 1783, when -he purchased a farm 

 of one hundred acres near Leidytown. in 

 Hilltown township. He later purchased 

 another farm in that neighborhood and be- 

 came a prominent man iji the community. 

 He was one of the original trustees of the 

 Hilltown school house, erected in 1795, and 

 maintained for the education of the youth 

 of the neighborhood. He died on his Hill- 

 town farm in September, 1831, his wife, 

 Elizabeth, surviving him. His children 

 were : Peter ; Catharine, wife of George 

 Eckhardt, of New Britain; Henry; Martin, 

 Jr.; John; Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Wisler; 

 Mary, wife of Samuel Dannehower ; Sarah 

 and Margaret. Martin King. Jr., was the 

 grandfather of the subject of this sketch. 

 He was born in Hilltown township, and on 

 arriving at manhood married Catharine 

 Hartman. who bore him three children, 

 John F.. Amos and Catharine. The father. 

 Martin Kinar. Jr.. died about the year 1827, 

 and his widow remarried a man by the 

 name of Snyder, and survived her hus- 

 band many years, dying in Doylestown 

 about 1878. 



John F. King, the eldest son of Martin 

 and Catharine (Hartman) King, was born 

 in Hilltown township April 19. 1820. At 

 the age of sixteen years he went to Phila- 

 delphia and learned the trade of a stair 

 builder, which he followed for a few vears 

 in Philadelphia, and then returned to Bucks 

 county, where for several years he followed 

 the trade of a carpenter. In 1849 he pur- 

 chased of his cousin. John Eckhart, a lot 

 of eighteen acres near Newville, in New 

 Britain township, where he made his home 

 until 1867, when he purchased the farm and 

 mill property now owned by the subject of 

 this sketch, on the- Herkiaken. a tributary 

 of the North Branch, near Fountainville, 

 in New Britain township. Mr. King was 



